Never seen one like Auburn's win -- or like Cam Newton

AUBURN - To Cam Newton, the question was posed, "Have you ever been in a game like this?"

Dave Martin/Associated PressCam Newton flies into the end zone for one of his touchdowns

To which he responded, "The question is, Have you ever seen a game like this?"

Ummmmm, no.

Not sure that anybody has.

To cram this 65-43 Auburn win over Arkansas into a Cliff's Notes version, Newton emerged as the Heisman frontrunner, the Tigers assured themselves another notch or two higher in the rankings, they benefited twice from video replays that preserved touchdowns, had spectacular special teams play and, in this morning's profound contradiction to ponder, the Auburn defense gave up 566 yards, 43 points, got itself passed dizzy - and it won the game on defense. That, courtesy of three fourth-quarter turnovers.

"There's just something unique about this team," cornerback Zac Etheridge said.Your shameless television networks may have relentlessly hyped this as "Cam Newton vs. Ryan Mallett," the game's respective quarterbacks.

That's why they came up with truth-in-advertising laws.

This was Ryan Mallett vs. Nick Fairley.

Fairley, Auburn's 298-pound defensive tackle, was after Mallett from the beginning. And talking from the beginning. It was a two-sided conversation.

"I try to mess with (quarterbacks) to let 'em know I'm going to be coming all day, all game," Fairley said. "Some respond, some say nothing. He's one of those guys who said, 'Keep coming.'"

Famous last words. Fairley planted Mallett at midfield in the second quarter like a class project for a bunch of agriculture students to go dig up later. Mallett suffered a concussion and didn't take another snap.

But because, well, you ain't seen nothing like this before, backup quarterback Tyler Wilson turned into Joe Montana and Auburn's defense insisted again on doing enough sloppy things to make every game seem like a mystery novel that isn't solved until the last page.

As for the other half of the hype equation, pretty much because whoever does stand on the other side of "vs." from Cam Newton doesn't stand a chance without some heavy artillery. And the Arkansas defense couldn't set off an alarm at the airport boarding gate, much less bring down Newton.

Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino told CBS at halftime that his defense needed to stay in its gaps and recognize blocking schemes.

Yeah ... well ... that or, you know, like maybe just tackle Newton instead of getting fooled like a dog chasing a flashlight beam.

Honest, I thought I was being goofy, not prescient, when I covered Auburn's first game this year and wrote about "all those printing presses rolling out the 'Cam Newton 2 The Heisman' bumper stickers" following his debut against Arkansas State. It's early. We're just on the opposite side of the halfway point of the season. But what Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts said then stands now: "He is the best player I have ever seen live."

"The Heisman Trophy (talk), you can throw that out the window," Newton shrugged.

At game's end, he skipped to the far sideline to celebrate with the Auburn students, then climbed atop the end zone wall and blew a kiss to the students and fired a salute.

It was into that same end zone that Newton dove for one of his three touchdowns, completing the unfinished business from Onterio McCalebb's 99-yard kickoff return. Newton launched himself over the line, proving he is indeed able to leap tall buildings at a single bound.

We already knew that part where he was faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive.